Grand Marais

Today we came up the shore to Grand Marais. 42 years ago, we spent a year here, in my 3rd year of med school on the RPAP (rural physicians associate program). It was a wonderful year for a young guy and his wife, used to the north woods, but stuck in the metropolis for educational purposes. My preceptor was an amazing physician named Roger MacDonald. He taught me so much! He went on to direct the RPAP program. He finally retired 25 years ago and began his writing career, which has been prolific. Today we pulled into the Grand Marais harbor and marina and tied up just after lunch. Cindy went for a run and I lifted weights, and then I called Roger. We got together mid afternoon for an hour with Roger and his wife and had an absolutely delightful visit. He is now 95, sharp as he ever was, sadly can't play his fiddle due to rotator cuff issues, but still amazing. Best teacher I ever had and gave us a copy of his latest book, "Babe", a story of the Blue Ox.

We then went on a walking tour of Grand Marais. Much has changed, but much is the same. The shack Cindy and I lived in behind the Birch Terrace restaurant is really unchanged. It's still a shack and I am sure just as cold in the winter. We went to Joyne's variety store where Cindy worked. No change. The mints at the check out are in the same place they always were.

Other things have changed a lot. The whole town is a lot more phoo phoo. Lots of restaurants. Lots of Patagonia. Lots of people that need to eat more protein and less granola. I went to the fish market to get some local fresh fish but other than the smoked ciscoes, it all came from the west coast or Canada. I got the ciscoes but the guy that sold them to me was Amed from Istanbul. Where was Nils and when did Minnesota move? Anyway, it was nice to see the town from the lake side again, but as Cindy noted, we left Duluth 2 days ago, 2 hours from home and here we are, still just 2 hours from home. Tomorrow I think we are going to the Island, Isle Royale, for a couple of days, then to Thunder Bay to clear in. We'll see what the weather gives us.

Rice at the Folk School in Grand Marais, pretty dirty pickers

Grand Marais Harbor this morning leaving

The shack Cindy and I lived in during my 3rd year of med school

Sunrise Grand Marais harbor

Leaving the harbor this morning

On The Road Again

After 10 weeks off Burntside (boat) for summer on Burntside (lake), we are back on the boat for the next couple of months heading south, sort of, via the north side of Lake Superior. We finished our fall chores early, wood is made, rice has been harvested and the day after Labor Day, we travelled to Duluth and Spirit Lake Marina where the boat spent July and August. We did take a 4 day sojourn to the Apostle's with Zach, Aimee and the girls, but for the most part staayed at home and caught up on a neglected yard and home chores. We provisioned up and planned on departing Thursday but the weather said no, so we left yesterday on Friday. Fueled up at Lakehead Boat Basin at the base of the lift bridge and headed up the shore. Late afternoon we pulled into the Silver Bay Marina which is a beautiful facility on the North Shore. We met good friend John Sandstrom for happy hour and pulled out this morning at 0630 headed for Grand Marais, about 6 hours up the shore. We are looking forward to an afternoon there. It has been over 40 years since I spent the 3rd year of med school there. How the heck that happened is beyond me. Anyway, the plan is to work our way to Thunder Bay, across the north side of the lake to the Slate Islands, and down the east shore to the Soo over the next 10 days to 2 weeks. We will travel when weather permits and hole up when it doesn't. This time of year there will likely be more weaather issues, but we will deal with them.

Good rice crop this year on the Vermillion River

Harvested almost 200# with good friends Mike and Shirleen Hieb

Leaving Spirit Lake Marina on Friday morning

Aerial Lift Bridge as we left the Duluth Harbor

Splitrock Light house

A Krogen 42 widebody (Resolute) in the Silver Bay marina. Hadn't seen another Krogen on Superior

Silver Bay Marina

Northshore Mine facility at Silver Bay. Yes, we support mining!

Duluth

It's about time to finish up this section of the blog. We spent two nights in the Apostles, at Stockton and the second night at Sand Island on the west edge of the islands. Sand Island has a unique light hous and the sea caves. We also visited the sea caves on Devil's Island, but viewed them just from the mother ship. There really was no good spot to anchor. The dock at Devil's Island was destroyed a year ago. The sea caves developed from erosion of sandstone, deposited from north flowing rivers originating in southern Minnesota. The striations and colors are beautiful. We anchored in a bay on the east side of Sand Island, right by the sea caves, and kayaked through them, then took the dinghy to the north end of the island to tour the light house. The next morning we broke camp and headed for Duluth where we met Barry, Bethanie and the boys at the Duluth entrance. I pulled over to the side wall just pst the lift bridge and they jumped the fence to climb on board and went up the St. Louis River to Spirit Lake Marina, at the base of Spirit Mountain, where we are keeping the boat until September. At that time I will pick up the blog again as we tour the north side of Superior, and begin our trip south.

Duluth lift bridge, a welcome sight

lighthous on Sand Island

Daybreak, Sand Island

sunset on the sea caves, Sand Island

Touring the lighthouse

Sandstone strata

Sand Island Lighthouse, made from sandstone quarried on site

Paddling the caves

Devil's Island caves

Apostle Islands

Yesterday morning we left Houghton at 0515 for a long day, 104 miles across the lake to the Apostles. It was forcast to be flat, and after the first hour it was. The trip was eventful for only one issue, out in the middle, 15 miles offshore, we hit a vertically floating log with the tip sticking up only an inch or two, in 700 feet of water. No damage but it thumped and scared the crap out of us. The time zone changed as we crossed into Wisconsin waters, so we arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon but it was a 12 hour crossing. We tied up at a National Park dock last night at Stockton Island where we took Jeff Janacek's boat on our first trip 15 or 20 years ago. We met a nice couple from Washburn Wisconsin and had a little happy our on their boat. This morning Cindy ran the trails on the island and I took a hike, with plans to visit the sea caves on Devils Island and Sand Island later today. At this point we are set to move on to Duluth tomorrow morning with an anticipated arrival early afternoon if all things go well. The weather looks good for the next couple of days.

Dodging flotsam

Houghton-Hancock lift bridge at 5:15 in the morning

Lighthouse at the west entrance to the Keeweenaw Channel and Portage River

Flat day crossing the big lake

Leaving Stockton Island this morning

Stockton Island trail

Julien Bay

Julian Bay

Big Chute

Here is a video of when we went overlan on the rail portage of the Big Chute. I didn't post it before because of lack of internet access.

Weatherbound

The past two nights we have been tied to a public dock/wall in Houghton Hancock. After leaving Whitefish Point, we went to a marina at Munising, which was delightful. They had great docks at a park, and a bunch of tour boats that make trips to the picture rocks on the south shore of the lake. The Picture Rocks are not pictographs, but cliffs of sandstone that have eroded and are really impressive. We diverted to the shoreline to look at them. There were waterfalls that cascaded off the tops of the cliffs and the colors were amazing. There were a ton of kayakers from the tour boats paddling the edge of the cliffs. As we putted along the shore, taking pictures and Cindy noticed a handheld VHF radio floating in the water, so we circled around and picked it up. I called the tour boat to see if it might be one of theirs and the operator informed me they had lost two of them this week, so we got close to them and handed it over with a boat hook. In Munising we found a local brewery and some good pizza, then took advantage of the good weather and moved on to Marquette, where we stayed a night, got the holding tank pumped out and had a nice meal of whitefish soup and sandwich. We then moved on to Houghton Hancock, taking the route through Portage Lake, knowing the weather was getting ready to turn sour. As we came through the Portage River and Portage Lake, approaching the public dock/wall, I increased speed to about 80% of full throttle, as I usually do toward the end of the day. It's good for the engine. Within just a few minutes, I got a call on the VHF. It was the US Coast Guard, and I thought oh crap, I'm going to get a speeding ticket (at 8 knots), but nope, they just wanted to board us and do a safety inspection. Really nice guys, two of whom had been through the Boy Scout base on Moose Lake. Anyway, they said the only reason they pulled us over was because they need to do a compliance check and we were the only boat on the water. We have been tied up here on the Houghton side just east of the lift bridge over the canal because it's been blowing. The big lake would not be dangerous but really uncomfortable with head seas at 3-4 feet and a very short period, so we will wait until tomorrow to move on to the Apostles for a couple of nights then to Duluth on Saturday, assuming all things mechanical stay good. In the mean time, Houghton has given Cindy some thrift stores to check out and a great hill to bike up for a workout.

Big pizza oven in Munising

A nice flight of good beers in Munising

Picture Rocks

Huge sand dunes enroute to Munising

Gin clear water at the Picture Rocks

Tour booat missing a VHF radio

Farm on the Portage River

Getting inspected

Keeweenaw Brewing Company, November Gale Pale Ale

The Big Lake

We locked through the Canadian side Soo Lock right at noon yesterday, the last portage until fall. The day before we finished crossing the North Channel, the western half was not as rocky and looked more like Lake Vermillion rather than the BWCA like terrain on the eastern half. Made camp in a quiet bay before entering the St. Josephs Channel. Yesterday we ate current going upstream in the channel and in the St. Mary's River, then entered the Soo Lock on the Canadian side. It is preferred that the recreational boats use this lock rather than the two big locks on the US side. We locked through with a tour boat beside us and entered the channel above with more current for 8 miles until we entered Whitefish Bay. Cleared into the US shortly after exiting the lock using the CBP Roam app with only a slight delay until I found my password. We crossed Whitefish Bay and tied up to a free dock at Whitefish Point around 4, with enough time to hike to the Shipwreck Musum a mile down the road. The Michigan side is pretty flat sand dune country, but looking across to the Canadian side, it looked like mountains. the hike down the road and back to the museum was a mile, through a jackpine bog filled with blueberry bushes still blooming, and more mosquitos than I have seen in a while. They didn't eat much though. The museum covered the shipwrecks mainly in the Whitefish Bay and Eastern Lake Superior, and a lot about the Edmund Fitzgerald. Interesting but maybe not the best move prior to transiting the lake. We met a couple at the dock from the Twin Cities on a Marine Trader. They had done the loop a couple of years ago. Turned out a number of years ago, he bought a boat from Bill Defenbaugh in Ely, and his son worked for Harristhal's when they owned Canadian Border Oufitters. Today we re heading for either Grand Marais, Michigan or Munising, depending on weather and time, then on to Marquette tomorrow if all goes well.

grain hauler on Whitefish Bay

And another

St. Mary's Rapids at the Soo

Entering St. Joseph's Channel

These lighthouses are scattered all over

Locking through with a tour boat

Coast Guard building at the Shipwreck Museum

Underway on the big lake this morning

Sunrise this morning at the dock we stayed at